Balanced meals can be a rarity for children of struggling families

STOCKTON - The school cafeteria at Roosevelt Elementary was filled with the typical clamor. 11-year-old Miguel Nava waited in line for his choice of entrée: pizza or macaroni and cheese.

Jennie Rodriguez

STOCKTON - The school cafeteria at Roosevelt Elementary was filled with the typical clamor. 11-year-old Miguel Nava waited in line for his choice of entrée: pizza or macaroni and cheese.

An apple, milk and a variety of other sides on his tray made for a balanced meal.

When there are only the requisite beans and tortillas at home - or when he goes to school without breakfast because his parents must leave at 3 a.m. to work in the fields - school is the only place Miguel Nava has a balanced meal.

His parents, Esteban Nava and Guadalupe Barro, have labored on San Joaquin County's farmlands for years, helping to feed the nation's appetite for fruit, vegetables and meat.

Yet, when there is little to no work available, the Spanish-speaking couple's concern turns to feeding their own children.

This December, like most Decembers, they make do by rationing food and stretching what little savings they have. And they wait - until agriculture's seasonal rhythm turns once again.

Until then, Nava said, "we go day by day seeing how we're going to make it."

Their story is the story of many families at Roosevelt who struggle to make ends meet and whose children depend on the free breakfasts and lunches provided by the school.

A vast majority of the students - 82.2 percent - come from low-income households qualifying for free- and reduced-price meals. The east Stockton campus also serves an area that is home to a sizable migrant population.

For some Roosevelt children, school meals are sometimes the only meals. For Miguel's family, the winter - when ag jobs are out of season - is especially difficult. Nava was last employed by a turkey-packaging company prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Circumstances have been tougher for the family in recent years. Working temporary jobs already poses financial instability, Nava said, but the sluggish economy has created more competition for the temporary farm jobs that are available.

"You can't live for free," he said, sitting in his living room.

The family's one-bedroom home is far from lavish. Four mismatched chairs and a dining room table are their only furniture.

In the past, they had dual incomes when Barro used to work alongside her husband.

Field work for women has been harder to find since the 2008 death of pregnant teenager Maria Isavel Vasquez Jimenez. She died of heatstroke, and since then, some labor contractors have been more reluctant, even unwilling, to hire women.

"That changed everything, ... because (contractors) think that will happen to other women," Barro said.

The couple worries about meeting the basics of daily living and keeping their children on track education-wise.

When 11-year-old Miguel and his 6-year-old brother, Gerardo, come home from school, they do homework. The goal is for them to have better opportunities. There is no television or toys. The family cannot afford them.

Nava and Barro do their best every day to provide a homemade dinner.

"I make chicken and beef when we have it," Barro said. "When there is no money, we have beans, rice. I usually make homemade tortillas every day."

Mom and Dad want more for their children than a lifetime in the fields.

They've stopped migrating to Washington for the cherry season and to Mexico during the winter so their children's education isn't interrupted.

"I don't want them to be like us," Nava said. He and Barro are illiterate. As young as 5 years old, they were forced to work in Mexico and contribute to their households instead of attending school.

Miguel and Gerardo, in return, show an eagerness for learning every day, he said.

At the cafeteria recently, Miguel explained: "It's good for you to learn."

He wants to be a mechanic when he grows up. He wants to buy furniture and a home for his parents one day, and he wants to take care of them.

Until then, his parents continue their journey in the fields, contributing to the nation's food basket while looking forward to the day when they don't have to worry about how they will put food on their own table.